3 4 2 fastest, longest, biggest, lightest (science)

The book Guinness World Records contains the answers to these questions?. The trivia found in the Guinness World Records compendium are the kind that are superlative?. The people who w

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Scott Foresman Reading Street 3.4.2

ISBN 0-328-13372-8

ì<(sk$m)=bddhch< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U

Genre Comprehension

Skills and Strategy Text Features Expository

nonfi ction

• Compare and Contrast

• Author’s Purpose

• Ask Questions

• Map

• Caption

• Glossary

Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA, ™

Lexile, ® and Reading Recovery ™ are provided

in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.

~ The Guinness World Records Story ~

by Kirsten Anderson illustrated by Gary Krejca

Fastest, Longest, Biggest,

Lightest

Scott Foresman Reading Street 3.4.2

ISBN 0-328-13372-8

ì<(sk$m)=bddhch< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U

Genre Comprehension

Skills and Strategy Text Features Expository

nonfi ction

• Compare and Contrast

• Author’s Purpose

• Ask Questions

• Map

• Caption

• Glossary

Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA, ™

Lexile, ® and Reading Recovery ™ are provided

in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.

Fastest, Longest, Biggest,

Lightest

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1 Use a Venn diagram to compare and

contrast the bird egg records written about in the book

2 Write two questions you had as you read

the book Were your questions answered?

3 What word is contained in the word

superlative? How does the word help you

understand what superlative means?

4 Using an illustration in the book, find the

exact weight of the heaviest hailstone ever found.

Reader Response

Ostrich Canary

Fastest, Longest, Biggest, Lightest

Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York Sales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois

Coppell, Texas • Ontario, California • Mesa, Arizona

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Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for

photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to

correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman,

a division of Pearson Education.

Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R),

Background (Bkgd)

Illustrations by Gary Krejca

Photograph 21 Corbis

ISBN: 0-328-13372-8

protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher

prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission

in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or

likewise For information regarding permission(s), write to: Permissions Department,

Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05

3

How large was the biggest spider ever found? What is the fastest-swimming fish

in the world? How light was the world’s lightest bird egg? How heavy was the world’s heaviest bird egg? How many inches long was the largest corncob ever grown? And where in the world was the coldest temperature recorded?

The book Guinness World Records

contains the answers to these questions

Published each year, this book is a

compendium of trivia Trivia are fun and

amusing facts A compendium gives a lot

of information in a small amount of space

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The trivia found in the Guinness World

Records compendium are the kind that are

superlative Things that are superlative are

the most, or -est, of anything So the book

contains trivia about the largest, smallest,

shortest, and tallest of anything and

everything in the world

What about the huge spider that we first asked about? According to the book,

the biggest spider ever was found in 1965

It measured eleven inches across That’s the

size of a large frying pan!

And what about the world’s fastest fish? The book says that the cosmopolitan

sailfish has been measured at speeds of 68

miles per hour A fish that fast can keep up

with a car on a highway!

Keep reading to find the answers to the rest of the questions on page 3, as

well as many other interesting facts about

Guinness World Records.

5

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What about the lightest bird egg ever?

A canary egg weighed 0.0009 ounces And the heaviest bird egg ever?

An ostrich egg tipped the scales at five

pounds, two ounces That means the

heaviest bird egg was almost six thousand

times heavier than the lightest!

Are you curious to know how many

inches long that corncob was? Guinness

World Records says it was 36.25 inches

That’s more than three feet!

Finally, just how cold was the coldest temperature ever? The book says it hit -128

degrees Fahrenheit in Antarctica in July

1983 That’s 188

degrees below

Earth’s average

temperature

of 60 degrees

Fahrenheit!

7

We’ve answered all of the questions from page 3, but there’s another question that needs to be asked The question is:

How and when was the first Guinness

World Records put together?

The year was 1951 Sir Hugh Beaver was visiting some friends, and they argued about a question The question was: Which bird can fly faster, the golden plover or the grouse? Some said the grouse was faster, and others said the golden plover was faster, but no one knew for sure!

Sir Hugh tried to find out He searched libraries for the answer, but not one of the books that he read was of any help

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Sir Hugh was amazed that not a single book had the answer! He thought

more about what had happened, and he

thought of how much people liked to

argue over trivia

It was then that Sir Hugh had his great idea He thought it would be wonderful

if someone would write a book that listed

answers to trivia questions!

Sir Hugh worked for the Arthur Guinness Company, and he told the

company about his idea The company

liked Sir Hugh’s idea so much that it

agreed to pay to have the book written

and published

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Sir Hugh then told his idea to Norris and Ross McWhirter, twin brothers who were British writers and fact-checkers Sir Hugh asked the McWhirters to write the book, and the McWhirters agreed!

The first Guinness World Records was

published in August 1955, and it became a bestseller within a few months! The book has been published every year since then

More than 100 million copies of the book have sold in 100 countries, and the book

has been translated, or rewritten, into

thirty-seven different languages

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What kinds of things make it into each year’s book? The book is divided

into categories, such as nature, science,

and buildings There are records about

money and movies, there are pages about

amazing humans and pets, and there are

also many sports records listed

What you won’t find in Guinness World

Records are records that required people

to risk their lives The people who write

the book do not want people to risk their

lives, and they will not write about records

that involve endangering human life

We’ve now answered the question of

what makes it into the book, but there’s

still the question of how records get into

the book Also, how do readers know that

the records listed are true?

There are two types of records listed in

Guinness World Records One type is simple

facts, and simple facts are easy to check

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For example, the book lists India’s Meghalaya state as the rainiest place on Earth Meghalaya averages thirty-nine feet

of rain each year, which is more than an inch of rain every day!

The average yearly rainfall in Meghalaya is something that scientists have measured It is a simple fact that has been proven through observation

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Another simple fact involves the heaviest hailstone ever A piece of

hail weighing over two pounds fell in

Bangladesh in 1986 People weighed it,

and then someone reported the hailstone’s

size to Guinness World Records Once

Guinness World Records verified, or made

certain of, the hailstone’s size, the record

was put in the book

But what if, after another hailstorm, other people find a hailstone that weighs

more? If they can prove to Guinness World

Records that the hailstone weighs more,

then their hailstone will set the new record

for the heaviest hailstone

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Many records listed in Guinness

World Records involve people who have

performed a stunt or a trick

The record for the largest number of tap dancers dancing at once was set in Germany in 1998 It was set by a group

of almost seven thousand tap dancers

dancing together!

The book contains many records of that kind At any time, any of these records could be broken

For example, in 1997 a man in Sri Lanka stood on one foot for almost seventy-seven straight hours But there could be someone out there who has just finished standing

on one foot for seventy-eight straight hours!

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15

The second kind of record found in

Guinness World Records is less simple This

kind of record lacks exact information

For example, it is listed that families

in Egypt have kept Saluki dogs as pets for over five thousand years But we will never

be able to find the first family that did this

Therefore, we will never know the exact year a Saluki first became a family pet

For the record to be broken, scientists would need evidence that Salukis were kept as pets before the people of ancient Egypt kept them as pets

To show how much easier it is to verify some records than others, consider the record of the largest dog ears ever measured

Mr Jeffries, a basset hound, had his ears measured in 2002 Each ear measured over eleven inches from base to tip That’s the current record, but if there were a dog with larger ears, a ruler could be used to prove it

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You might wonder whose records are put into the book, or you might even

wonder if your record could be in Guinness

World Records The good news is that

anyone’s record can be in the book! All you

have to do is follow the proper procedure

A procedure is the steps you take to do

something

First, think of a record that you think you can break or set It may be a record

that you’ve already read about and want

to break, or you may have a totally new

idea for a record to set Once you decide

what record you want to break or set, ask

your parents for permission to write to the

people at Guinness World Records.

17

You will need to use the official form

found on the Guinness World Records Web

site (www.guinnessworldrecords.com) The

form is also included in Guinness World

Records.

The form asks you to describe your idea It is important that you use as many details as possible in your description That

way it’s easier for Guinness World Records

to understand what you have in mind

For example, you might want to build the world’s biggest snowman You should explain on the form how big your snowman will be and when and where you will build it

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When Guinness World Records receives

your form, people there will review it It is

important to be patient while waiting for

their reply You may not have an answer

for about two months That’s because

Guinness World Records receives about

sixty thousand forms every year!

When Guinness World Records writes

back to you, you will know if your idea

has been accepted If it has been accepted,

your record, if set, may be in Guinness

World Records!

19

How can you improve the chances that

Guinness World Records will like your idea?

First, make sure to suggest something that is not dangerous As you have read,

no one at Guinness World Records wants

anyone to get hurt while attempting to set

a record

Guinness World Records also needs to

be able to prove your record Your idea must be something that can be counted, measured, or photographed You must show that you did what you say you did

Finally, your idea should be something that people will be interested in reading about Remember, people all over the

world read Guinness World Records!

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The people at Guinness World Records

are very interested in records that can

be broken It’s exciting when someone

attempts to break an existing record An

existing record is one that is still standing,

or in place People like stories of records

that are challenged

When someone breaks a record, it is a

great accomplishment! An accomplishment

is something special that you or someone

else has done Even if someone fails to

break a record, it’s OK because the failure

makes the record seem even more special!

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No matter what, you shouldn’t feel disappointed if your idea is not accepted

Each year’s book contains over four thousand records—so many, in fact, that there isn’t enough space to list them all every year A record may be printed in the book one year and left out the next year

Also, you can write to Guinness World

Records as many times as you like You may

have many different ideas, and other than the postage stamp, it doesn’t cost anything

to send in an idea Who knows? One of your ideas may lead to a record printed in

Guinness World Records!

Kenny G played the longest note

in music history (45 minutes and

47 seconds) on his saxophone.

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Now Try This

Set Your Record!

Are you ready to set a personal record?

A personal record is set by doing the best

that you can do in any one activity Your

personal record may even be a step toward

a bigger record—maybe a world record!

Here’s how to set your personal record

Choose an activity It could be something from a sport, such as the

number of successful free throws made in

a row playing basketball

You may set a goal to be accomplished over a long period of time For example,

you might read as many books as you can

within a month or a year There are many

things you can try!

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Make a journal to keep track of your effort to set your record Label a page in

your journal Personal Record One Divide

the page into three columns

In column one, list the steps you plan to take to set the record You could include the amount of time you will practice or work at setting your record You could write about the steps you will take to meet

or exceed each day’s goal

In column two, write the final goal you wish to reach Explain all of the requirements you’ll need to meet in order

to set your record

Work as hard as you can to set your record! When you reach your goal, write the date you set your personal record in column three

Then you can start all over again and set a different personal record!

Her e’s H ow to D o It!

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Glossary

something special

that someone has

done.

something that gives

a lot of information

in a small amount of

space.

currently alive,

present, or in place.

of doing something.

best or most extreme

of something.

changed or rewritten from one language

to another.

amusing facts.

that something is true.